


Whispers in the Dark

by PinkPaperStars



Series: Soft QrowWatts Family AU [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Blood, Healing, I have soft Arthur/Qrow feelings okay, M/M, Old Men In Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soft feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26068636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPaperStars/pseuds/PinkPaperStars
Summary: Arthur has a garden. And Qrow watches him heal and muses on healing himself.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Arthur Watts
Series: Soft QrowWatts Family AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689613
Kudos: 3





	Whispers in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Qrow/Arthur gives me soft feelings.

It started at four am, a week after they had moved into their home in Patch. It was an old house, with an overgrown backyard. Qrow was sure that once it had been a beautiful and manicured yard. But after years of sitting uncared for and left to grow wild, nature had taken back the yard. 

Qrow assumed they were going to get to the yard eventually. For now, they finally had a roof over their heads that wasn’t also full of children. And they had taken full advantage of having the alone time. 

Qrow was going to thank Tai for housing the various kids at his place for the next little while. So that Arthur and him could spend some time in various states of undress and for once taking their time while having sex. 

A lot of sex. 

It had been about a week since they moved in, that Qrow woke up in bed alone. It wasn’t an unusual experience. He knew that Arthur didn’t sleep well, that memories and nightmares of past things he’d done kept him from sleeping to long. It must have been a bad one, since the bed beside him was cold. 

If it wasn’t a bad nightmare, Arthur would usually wake him up when he cuddled close to the other for comfort. Bad nightmares drove him from the warmth of the bed and away from comfort, to soothe himself. 

Qrow tossed his legs over the side of the bed and got up. He knew it wasn’t likely that he was going to get Arthur to come back to bed. But if Arthur needed comfort, he would stay awake with him. And if Arthur didn’t need him, then he would go back to bed. But he wasn’t just going to lie in bed, wringing his hands and worrying is Arthur was alright. 

After pulling on a pair of sweats, and he patted softly down the hallway. He checked the office, or what was going to be the office once they finished moving in fully, there was no Arthur there. No Arthur or anything but boxes in the two spare rooms either. 

He walked down the stairs, looking around the main floor. The Doctor wasn’t in the livingroom, or the kitchen. But the back sliding door was open, a cool breeze tickling at his bare feet and torso. The deck was a little rickety, and had two old kitchen chairs on it. And it was where he expected to find Arthur. Sitting with a cup of coffee and just relaxing in the way too early in the morning breeze. 

What Qrow did not expect was to see Arthur on his knees in their overgrown yard, ripping up thick weeds by their roots. There was something about the sight that made his mouth run dry. 

Arthur was, not okay. Qrow didn’t need to ask to figure it out. 

Qrow jumped down the broken deck steps, walking across the grass as Arthur ripped another tall weed out of the grown, tossing it on the pile of weeds he had been making. 

Arthur jumped a bit as Qrow put his hands on his shoulders. But he kept his eyes down, his head down as he focused on yanking weeds. 

“You okay?” 

“Yes,” 

“You sure?” Qrow leaned down forward to look down at Arthur. Arthur didn’t seem to be in a talkative mood. At least not about how he was feeling. Qrow understood that. The things that plagued Arthur, that kept him up at night were easy to talk about. And he wasn’t the kind of person who talked about his experiences often. He’d talk about it when he was ready, pushing him to talk only made it take longer. 

“Whatcha doing?” 

“Weeding,” 

“I see that, Why?”

“Can’t have a yard with all the weeds,” 

It was solid logic, if it was mid afternoon and not before sunrise. Qrow leaned forward and kissed the top of Arthur’s head. 

“Maybe we should do that when the sun is up? So we don’t hurt ourselves?” 

Arthur’s hands stopped moving. After a moment he sat up straight, looking out at the yard. It was a bit easier on Qrow’s back as he leaned over Arthur. He knew that sometimes there just weren't words that would comfort Arthur. Because he knew that sometimes Arthur couldn’t comfort him with words. And that was okay. 

Qrow looked down and saw red. 

“Hey, you have blood,” 

“I know,” 

“Nah Art. Not a metaphor, you’re bleeding,” There was blood on his hands and arms. And if he looked closely, he could see the scratches on him. Nature had not been kind to Arthur in the four am lack of light. Arthur looked down and hummed lightly. 

“Come on let’s get you cleaned up,” 

“Alright,” 

Qrow let go of Arthur, holding out his hands to help him to his feet. His skin was cold and wet. It had to be painful, but the Atlesian didn’t wince. He just got to his feet, and they headed back inside. Carefully they both stepped over the broken step, and into the house. Qrow flicked on the kitchen light and Arthur walked over to the sink. 

“Hey sit down I’ll take care of it,” 

“I can wash up while you get the first aid kit,” 

And there was a part of Qrow that wanted to tell him no. Because it was going to hurt him. But he watched the other turn on the kitchen sink and start to wash the blood off his hands and arms. 

It didn’t take him long to get the first aid kit and an old towel from the bathroom on the first floor. And when he walked back into the kitchen, Arthur was turning off the taps. Arthur took the towel from him, drying off his arms. 

“Sit down, let’s take a look and see,”

Arthur sat down on the kitchen chair, while Qrow opened up the well stocked kit. He pulled out some antiseptic, some cotton pads, and bandages. 

“It looked worse than it is,” 

“I’ll be the judge of that, towel off,” 

Green eyes blinked slowly at the soft red eyes, before he spread the towel out on his lap. Qrow soaked a cotton pad in some antiseptic, before starting to clean the cuts. Arthur’s hands took the worst of the damage from the thorny weeds, but there were some scratches on his arms. The little ones just needed to be cleaned and left to breathe.

But his hands would need to be wrapped. 

Qrow worked carefully, and quickly. Like he’d watched Arthur do so many times before. Cleaning others up and patching them back together. There was something about watching him do so, that soothed Qrow. Watching a man who’d thought he was only capable of destruction being able to help and heal with his hands. Like he imagined a younger Arthur had had, and had only wanted to do. To be a Doctor and to fix others. 

“I never had a yard, or grass,” 

Qrow didn’t interrupt, he just listened and cleaned Arthur’s hands. 

“In Atlas. Kind of hard with all the snow,” Arthur hummed a bit. “And I just, I thought it would be nice to have a yard,”

“We can have a nice yard,” Qrow smiled softly, cleaning Arthur’s hands. “With whatever you want. But let’s work on it during the day, okay? So you can see what your doing,” 

Arthur was quiet, unflinching while Qrow cleaned his hands. He knew it stung, but it was good to get it over and done with. The last thing Qrow needed was for Arthur to get an infection and damage his hands. Arthur had fought hard by his side, and while he wasn’t unscathed, he was alive. And here. 

Qrow wrapped Arthur’s hands with care, the same as Arthur would wrap his when they were hurt. It was not as neat, but it was secure. 

“We gotta get you some gloves and tools tomorrow,” Qrow said, packing away the unused supplies. And Arthur got up from the chair, and collected the garbage to toss out. 

Qrow left the first aid kit on the table, before stepping over to Arthur and wrapping his arms around his waist. He kissed him softly, and pulled him closer. 

“Come back to bed,”

“You know I’ll have trouble going back to sleep,” 

“You don’t have to sleep, just lay with me,” Qrow kissed him on the nose. “You can read or whatever. I just sleep better when you're beside me,” 

“All we have right now is your trashy romance novels,” 

“You love them,” Qrow laughed loudly. He grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him along. Arthur followed along, up the hardwood stairs and down the hall. Arthur’s fingers laced with his as they made their way back to the bedroom. To their bedroom. 

Arthur changed out of his dirty clothes, and into one of Qrow old shirts and a different pair of sweats. Qrow simply kicked his pants off and climbed back under the blanket. He watched Arthur dig out one of the paperbacks, before crawling into bed. He propped his pillow up against the headboard and leaned back against it.

Qrow threw his arm over Arthur’s waist, and closed his eyes. The last thing he felt was Arthur’s bandaged fingers running through his hair. 

It was a few hours later that Qrow woke up. He untangled himself from Arthur, who had fallen asleep again. He kissed him softly on the forehead, leaving him to sleep a bit longer. Because he could use some more rest, and Qrow could get some coffee and a simple breakfast together. 

The left mid morning, talking a walk into town. It wasn’t a quick walk, but it was nice. To go places together without having to run or hurry. Being able to just hold Arthur’s hand as they walked, taking in the view of the tall trees, the glassy path, and bright blue sky. It was nice to enjoy and see Arthur enjoy the pleasant weather. To see him wearing a loose tee-shirt, and a pair of Qrow’s old jeans. 

Arthur looked good both in and out of his suit. And Qrow thought he looked especially good in his old clothes. 

Patch had a small town. And while it didn’t have all the amenities of larger cities, there was everything they could need.

They bought some groceries, since they would need them anyways, before heading to the general store. 

It was the old man that ran the general store, Russet, that had asked if they were going to plant a garden. Truthfully, neither of them had really thought about it. The more pressing concern for the yard was to pull up all the weeds and get some grass planted. 

And it wasn't just the back yard that needed a good cleaning either, the front of the house needed to be cleaned as well. 

But Arthur had looked interested in the idea. 

They left the store with the tools they needed to get started, and several packs of seeds. Little packets of assorted vegetables, things that Arthur seemed interested in. Beans, peas, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes. 

Qrow was excited at the prospect of fresh tomatoes. 

The grass seeds and fertilizer were going to be delivered in a few days, which was fine. Arthur’s hands needed some time to heal before he could really get to work in the yards.

They held hands on their walk back to their house. Arthur’s bandaged fingers laced between his, and a small smile on his face. Arthur looked content, and peaceful. The light breeze blowing his hair. 

It brought a smile to Qrow’s face.

It was three days later that Qrow had deemed Arthur's hands had recovered enough to work. The cuts had all healed, and scabs on the larger ones had fallen off. A few particularly nasty cuts from the barbed weeds would leave little scars on Arthur's hands. Joining other scars he had from building a lifetime of machines, tools, and prosthetics. 

It was easy, from the outside, for people to look at Arthur and see a stuffy rich Atlesian, and assumed he wouldn't know what a hard day's work entailed. It was hard to know, unless you knew him, that Arthur was made of hard work. Of days spent in the Atlas military designing weapons and prototypes from blueprints to fabrication to working models. Arthur fought through pain and exhaustion to keep working and saving the lives of soldiers and hunters as a doctor. Arthur knew sleeping in on call rooms and his office to be close by for unstable patients and for on call shifts. He knew hard work to his bones.

Watching the doctor, on his hands and knees in the dirt, cutting weeds and digging out deep set roots wasn't a surprising sight for Qrow. Just different. He was used to seeing a hard working Arthur leaned over a weapon, cleaning and performing maintenance, or stitching up one of the many fighting against Salem after their Aura broke. The Doctor saved many of them, more than once, after auras ran dry.

This was different. Seeing the tan skinned man smile and hum to himself while pulling weeds was nice. To watch Arthur enjoy being in the yard, in Qrow's ratty jeans and a faded shirt. His gloves caked in dirt, his shirt soaked in sweat under the hot sun, and the joy on his face whenever they uncovered a hidden treasure in their weeding. 

Finding a black berry bush growing in the middle of the weeds had been surprising, as well as the two blueberry bushes in the front of the house. Qrow and Arthur also found that their backyard, lined with trees and enclosing the yard naturally, instead of with a fence, had two different apple trees. One grew crab apples, and the other red apples. The back yard had a wood framed plot for a garden. And the front yard had wood framed flower beds. Under the deck, there were some wooden planters that were still in good shape, unlike the deck and other wooden frames. They also discovered what they thought was a shed in the backyard was actually a small chicken coop.

Qrow's favourite part of fixing up the yards was watching Arthur sleep soundly for several hours a night. To wake up only to find Arthur turning over in his arms. It didn't get rid of all of Arthur's nightmares and troubles. But the project gave him something to focus his energy on. 

It was a few weeks later that Tai showed up in their backyard. The shocked look on the blonde face as he looked over the yard was worth it. Qrow laughed at him.

"I was coming over to start clearing up the yard but you beat me to it," 

Between the two of them, they had weeded the yards and planted the grass. Qrow had rebuilt the wooden frames for the garden and flower beds. And while Qrow rebuilt the deck, Arthur had planted the little garden, the flowers, and moved some of the various bushes to different places. It still needed some work, Qrow wanted to stain the deck, and get them some furniture that wasn't old kitchen chairs, but it was worth the effort to see Arthur look at peace. 

"Neither of us are particularly good at sitting still," Qrow chuckled, leaning against the deck, watching Arthur pull the little weeds trying to spring up in the garden.

"And here I thought you'd be banging each other against every surface in your house still," 

"We are," Qrow grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Tai. "But I think both of us need more to do besides then just screw each others brains out,"

"Fair," Tai nodded. "You like gardening?" 

"It's more Arthur's thing. But I like fixing things up," Qrow smiled a bit, watching Arthur pick up his weed bucket and moving to the next section of his budding garden, "I think it's good for him. Keeps him busy and his mind off of other things," 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah. I think it helps with the PTSD from, well everything," 

"That's good," Tai nodded, but looked up at Qrow, "But what about you?" 

"Arthur helps with mine. And seeing him happy and having him sleep through the night, it helps me too," Qrow smiled. He couldn't hear it, but he could tell, from the way Arthur's lips pinched softly, that he was humming to himself. Some songs from Atlas that Qrow probably didn't recognize. 

He wanted to find Arthur a violin or a piano. He knew the other could play, but he hadn't in a long time. 

Qrow wanted to hear it. 

"What are you guys going to do once the yard's all together?" 

"Dunno yet. We'll see what happens," Qrow knew, they couldn't take a break forever. Not that they weren't enjoying being home, but it wasn't in their nature. Qrow doubted that Arthur would be content to just sit at home and live out the rest of his years. He had been a man of innovation for years with the Atlas military. And a man of planning for Salem for years after that. 

And Qrow himself wasn’t one for sitting still either. He had lived a much more nomadic life. From growing up in the tribe, to working as a huntsman, and working for Ozpin. Qrow had never thought of himself of the type of person to settle down. But running with the kids and Arthur, getting into dangerous situations and life threatening situations made the idea of having a home to go to more appealing. Having a home with Arthur, sounded good to him. 

“Glynda’s been asking if Art would consider doing prosthetics, from some hunters that need them,” Qrow blinked a bit watching Arthur wipe the sweat from his forehead. “And she could always use another huntsman. But for now I think we are happy to stay here for a while,” 

“I’m sure that Patch could use someone who could help fix and replace some of the old prosthetics around town as well,” 

“Maybe. Don’t really want to advertise that Arthur Watts is alive,” 

“So use your last name. Arthur Branwen, It’s got a good ring to it,” Tai grinned at him. “Haven’t you two talked about it?” 

“Yeah, but it the context of we are about to die, so maybe if we survive let’s get married,”

“But you didn’t,” 

“We didn’t. And we didn’t really talk about it again. You know, that facing down death made us not really plan a future,” Qrow chuckled a bit, watching Arthur weed his garden. There were little budding plants in the dirt and Arthur was careful to make sure he was only pulling the weeds. Watching him be at peace, just made Qrow’s heart swell. He deserved some peace. They both did. 

“Well why don’t you two talk about it again?” 

“Dunno,” Qrow blinked a bit. “Hey Art!” Arthur stopped weeding, looking up and smiling at the other a bit. 

“Yes?” He stood up, taking his gloves off and starting to walk over to the two of them.   
“I didn’t say now Qrow!” Tai panicked. 

“No time like the present,” Qrow laughed, leaning over the rail of the deck as Arthur approached. Arthur’s hands took hold of his cheeks when he approached. Arthur smelled like dirt and sweat. His skin was warm, from soaking in the sun. And Arthur had a smile on his face as Qrow leaned down to give him a kiss. 

“Hey babe,” Qrow chuckled, giving Arthur another soft kiss. “Want to get married?” 

“Of course,” Arthur smiled softly. And it made Qrow’s knees feel a bit weak. He wasn’t worried about falling over the edge. If he did, Arthur would catch him. “Legally it’ll be a bit complicated you know. Considering I’m a wanted man,”

“We’ll talk to Goodwitch, She’ll help us figure it out,” 

“Of course, she’s quite talented,” Arthur chuckled and kissed the other again. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We’ll figure it out,” 

Qrow took one of the rings off his fingers, and slid it onto Arthur’s. Qrow would get him something else for the wedding, but this felt good, felt right for an engagement. 

“Take one of my hard light rings next time your in the house,” 

“Okay,”

For the rest of the afternoon, Arthur worked around the yard, while Qrow started to stain the deck. The yard wasn’t finished yet, the house wasn’t finished yet. But they would get there, Qrow knew it. Because they had time.


End file.
